


Knowing, Not Remembering

by euseevius



Series: Seedlings [2]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Cabbage Patch Hobbits, Character Death, Character Study, Durin Death, Hobbit Children, Hobbit Culture & Customs, Hobbit History & Lore, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 14:28:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20065555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/euseevius/pseuds/euseevius
Summary: Bilbo Baggins was born clutching an acorn, even if he doesn't remember it.Meeting Thorin Oakenshield feels both like a sign and a cruel joke.





	Knowing, Not Remembering

**Author's Note:**

> This little ficlet takes place in my Seedlings verse - but you _can_ read this without having read The Origin of Hobbits first! All you need to know is that by Yavanna's blessing, hobbits come to this world by growing in their parents gardens, and that every hobbit is born with at least one Seed of their own, to be planted when they're older.

Bilbo Baggins doesn’t remember his Seed.

He was born with a single one, just like both of his parents were. And he lost his when he was a youngling, just like his father did.

(A lot of Seeds were lost during the Fell Winter. It’s just how things go sometimes.)

Bilbo Baggins doesn’t remember his Seed.

It’s alright, because his mother doesn’t mind telling the story of his birth again and again - - of a small hobbit, grown from a dandelion seed, crying his first cries in the garden behind Bag End.

Of a tiny hand clutching an acorn.

*

Meeting a dwarf called Thorin Oakenshield feels like a joke.

A stupid, non-funny one, possibly made by an infuriating wizard - but a joke nonetheless. 

Still.

Bilbo signs the contract and follows the dwarf.

He might not remember his Seed, but he remembers his mother’s stories. 

Maybe Yavanna likes to give signs through medling wizards. Who Bilbo Baggins is to judge a literal goddess?

*

The hug on the carrock. Nights at Beorn’s garden. 

Whispered conversations in the Elvenking’s dungeons. A shared bedroll in Lake-town.

Those don’t feel like a joke.

Somewhere along the journey it starts to feel like a sign.

Like a promise.

*

The gold sickness. Almost getting thrown off a god damned wall.

Those do feel like a joke again.

*

Thorin Oakenshield dies and Bilbo Baggins holds him.

One of the last things he ever said was to Bilbo ‘_to plant his trees_’.

There is a lonely acorn in Bilbo’s left breast pocket, picked up from Beorn’s garden after a particularly nice night walk.

*

Bilbo Baggins doesn’t remember his Seed, but he _knows_.

He knows he knows he knows he knows he knows.

It’s the sickest joke of them all.

*

*

*

Years and years after, when there is a young oak tree growing behind Bag End, a small, sad hobbit boy is brought to Bilbo’s door.

He has dark hair and blue eyes, and no Seed and no family - not anymore.

A sign. A promise.

Bilbo Baggins doesn’t remember his Seed.

But he _knows_.

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet was originally posted on[tumblr](https://puukkolesbo.tumblr.com/post/177063084306/the-origin-of-hobbits). One day I hope to continue this series with the Sam/Frodo piece I've been thinking about for literal years.


End file.
